Vegetarian diet more harmful to environment: Study

New York: Contrary to popular assumption - and a talk by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the United Nations Paris Climate Change Conference - eating a vegetarian diet could contribute more to climate change than eating a non-vegetarian diet, warns a new study.

Schwarzenegger, a former California governor, advised people to go meat-free one or two days a week to help protect the climate.

But the new research found that consuming more fruits, vegetables, dairy and seafood is more harmful to the environment because those foods have relatively high resource uses and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per calorie.

The study measured the changes in energy use, blue water footprint and GHG emissions associated with US food consumption patterns.

The researchers studied the food supply chain to determine how the obesity epidemic in the US is affecting the environment.

Specifically, they examined how growing, processing and transporting food, food sales and service, and household storage and use take a toll on resources in the form of energy use, water use and GHG emissions.

The findings appeared in the journal Environment Systems and Decisions.